Carnivorous plants have evolved all kinds of traps and tricks to capture their prey, from the snapping jaws of Venus flytraps to the slippery walls of pitcher plants.
Although we often think of evolution as a process driven by strong selective pressure and big payoffs, researchers recently found that doesn’t always have to be the case.
Biologists Ulrike Bauer and Guillaume Chomicki describe how a springboard-like lid evolved independently in two different pitcher plant species on opposite sides of the world through a process they call spontaneous coincidence.
**Dr. Guillaume Chomicki's current affiliation is at Durham University.